Morgan Neville is no stranger to documentaries, nor musical documentaries, but his newest certainly provokes something new and manages to create a wonderfully whimsical documentary that captures the personality and soul of the subject matter at hand. Neville’s other works are focused on Yo-Yo Ma (The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (2015)), Keith Richards (Keith Richards: Under the Influence (2015)), Mr. Rogers (Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)), and Steve Martin, to varying degrees of success (personally I thought STEVE! (martin) (2024) was a little too much, but it literally left no stone unturned). His newest, Piece by Piece, focuses on Pharrell Williams. Now, to be clear, I knew nothing about Pharrell’s personal life, upbringing, anything truly specific, I just knew his music. While the documentary seems to be fluff, some very preliminary research shows that Pharrell just doesn’t seem that problematic, minus a current lawsuit that’s been in hearings since April of this year, proving that maybe Pharrell is just an actual good person.
Pharrell Williams in director Morgan Neville’s PIECE BY PIECE, a Focus Features release. Photo courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
While Piece by Piece starts off as a regular documentary, in essence, the conversation between Pharrell and Morgan is simply about how they’re going to tackle creating this documentary and how it is going to properly showcase Pharrell and represent him correctly. This is where the idea for telling the documentary in LEGO® comes in, something which catches Morgan off guard. Pharrell argues that this would properly capture his personality and being essentially and allow the documentary to be as inspired and whimsical as Pharrell himself.
While Pharrell’s story is engaging and interesting, just hearing the stories being told and illustrated would have been a slight bore — another kid who lived, breathed, and spoke talent, who got launched into stardom, did things the average person didn’t know about, and became the singer we all know and love today; middle of the road and uninteresting.
L-R: Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani in director Morgan Neville’s PIECE BY PIECE, a Focus Features release. Photo courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Now, in theory, a documentary done in LEGO® should not work. It is so weird in both theory and idea, but the execution is simply flawless. Instead of it being another talking head documentary with archival footage and stories and recreated moments to describe and illustrate the stories that are being shared, the use of LEGO® allows the creativity, the hardship, and the shocking moments to all work so much better and engage the audience in a new way. A prime example of this is when Pharrell shares the story of meeting Snoop Dogg who came into the studio with a gang of Crips, but he’s represented by a LEGO® dog. Just small things like this take the story, which is already engaging and interesting, to something more fun and out of the box to create a one of its kind documentaries that captures the heart and soul of Pharrell himself.
Pharrell Williams in director Morgan Neville’s PIECE BY PIECE, a Focus Features release. Photo courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Piece by Piece is not something I had expectations for; it felt like another music documentary about someone who seems relatively unproblematic and not messy, and since I was completely unaware of his producing history, I had just assumed he fell off and chased other things after Happy. Piece by Piece explores practically every facet of Pharrell’s life and leaves out the pending lawsuit he has over rights to the “Neptunes” name (again it’s nothing overly terrible), confirming that Pharrell is a rather unproblematic person. A whimsical film that brings forth incredible passion both behind the camera and from the subject, and with the LEGO® signature, Piece by Piece is one of the most pleasant documentaries of the year.
Screening during Toronto International Film Festival 2024.
In theaters October 11th, 2024.
For more information, head either to the official Piece by Piece Toronto International Film Festival 2024 webpage or Focus Features webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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